Royal Armouries#Master of the Armouries

The Royal Armouries is one of the ancient institutions of the Tower of London and was originally engaged in the manufacture of armour for the Kings of England and their armies. The Office of the Armoury grew out of the department known as the King's Privy Wardrobe at the Tower of London in the mid-15th century. Overseen from 1423 by the Master of the King's Armour, and based in the White Tower, the Office was responsible for manufacturing armour and edged weapons for the monarch and his armies; it functioned alongside the Office of Ordnance, which had responsibility for firearms.{{cite book|last1=Stewart|first1=Richard W.|title=The English Ordnance Office 1585–1625|date=1996|publisher=Boydell Press|location=Woodbridge, Suffolk}}

The Armoury oversaw storehouses and workshops at Woolwich and Portsmouth, and at various royal palaces (most notably the Greenwich Armoury, which specialized in richly decorated ceremonial armour). In 1545, it is recorded that a visiting foreign dignitary paid to view the Armoury collection at the Tower of London. By the time of Charles II, there was a permanent public display there; the "Spanish Armoury" which included instruments of torture and the "Line of Kings"—a row of wooden effigies representing the kings of England. This makes it the first museum in Britain.{{cite web |url=http://www.royalarmouries.org/visit-us/tower-of-london |title=Tower of London |access-date=29 September 2010}}

File:Fort nelso Artillery Hall gallery.JPG, the Artillery Hall gallery]]

The influence of the Armoury began to wane as traditional weapons gave way increasingly to firearms in the field of war. In the 1620s, swords, lances and items of armour were still used in battle, but for the most part were being issued by the Office of Ordnance (which was becoming a sizeable department of State) rather than by the Armoury. The latter, however, remained staffed and operational until 1671, when it was finally absorbed by the Ordnance Board; the board continued to maintain, and indeed expanded, the Armoury as a museum.

The Tower was engaged in the development, manufacture and storage of a wide variety of weaponry until the Board of Ordnance was abolished in 1855. Thereafter the historic armoury collection remained. Only a small part of this could be displayed, however, and in 1995, much of the artillery collection was moved to Fort Nelson in Hampshire and the following year a new Royal Armouries Museum was opened in Leeds.{{cite web |url=http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cats/70/7244.htm |title=Royal Armouries Library, London: Royal Armouries and Office of Ordnance |access-date=29 September 2010 |archive-date=15 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315183403/http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cats/70/7244.htm |url-status=dead }} The remaining part of the collection relates directly to the Tower.

The National Heritage Act 1983 established the Armouries as a non-departmental public body, now sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The head of the Royal Armouries is known as the Master of the Armouries. This was an ancient office that was revived in 1935 when the Royal Armouries became a national museum.{{cite web|title=Royal Armouries and Office of Ordnance|url=http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cats/70/7244.htm|website=AIM25|access-date=18 February 2016|date=September 2003|archive-date=15 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315183403/http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cats/70/7244.htm|url-status=dead}} The current Director General and Master of the Armouries is Nat Edwards.{{cite web|title=Director General and Master of the Armouries|url=https://www.royalarmouries.org/about-us/people/director-general|website=Royal Armouries|access-date=18 February 2016}}

The Master of the Armoury was responsible for maintaining a store of armour and weapons for use in the event of war and had an office in the Tower of London. The first use of the title was in 1462.

• 1462–1485 ??
• Sir Richard Guildford (1485–1506) (also Master of the Ordnance)
• Sir Edward Guildford (1506–1533)
• Sir John Dudley (1533–1544)
• Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy of Chiche (1544–1553)
• Sir Richard Southwell (1554–1559) (also Master of the Ordnance)
• Sir George Howard (1560–1580)
• Sir Henry Lee (1580–1611){{cite book|title=Sir Henry Lee (1533–1611): Elizabethan Courtier|first= Sue|last= Thompson}}
• Sir Thomas Monson, 1st Baronet (1611–1616){{cite book|title=The Ben Jonson Encyclopedia|first=D.Heywood|last= Brock|page= 322}}
• William Legge (1636–1646)
• Robert Spaven (1647–?1648){{cite book|title=Journals of the House of Lords, Volume 9|page=640}}
• Anthony Nicholl (1648–?1658){{cite book|title=Journals of the House of Lords, Volume 10|page= 470}}
• William Legge (restored to office 1660–1670)
• Office abolished in 1671

• Charles John Ffoulkes (1935–1938){{cite web|url= http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cats/70/7245.htm|title= Royal Armouries Library, London|access-date= 26 May 2016|archive-date= 30 June 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160630124648/http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cats/70/7245.htm|url-status= dead}}
• Sir James Mann (1938–1962){{cite news|title= Gloucester Citizen|date=6 December 1938}}
• Arthur Richard Dufty (1963–1976){{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-a-r-dufty-1502420.html|title= Obituary: A. R. Dufty|work= The Independent|date= 6 November 1993|access-date= 26 May 2016}}
• Alexander Vesey Bethune (Nick) Norman (1977–1988){{cite book|title=British Basket-hilted Swords: A Typology of Basket-type Sword Hilts|first= Cyril|last= Mazanski|page=dedication}}
• Guy Wilson (1988–2002){{cite web|title=WILSON, Guy Murray|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U40237|website=Who's Who 2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=18 February 2016|date=November 2015}}
• Paul Evans (2003–2008){{cite news|last1=Small|first1=Jeremy|title=Museum boss quits|url=http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/3772209.Museum_boss_quits/|access-date=18 February 2016|work=The York Press|date=20 October 2008}}
• Lieutenant-General Jonathon Riley (2009–2012)
• Edward Impey (2013–2022)
• Nat Edwards (2022–present){{cite news |last=Stephens |first=Simon |date=26 July 2022 |title= Royal Armouries appoints director general |url=https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/2022/07/royal-armouries-appoints-director-general/ |work=Museums Association News|access-date=1 August 2022}}

The Royal Armouries formerly published the Royal Armouries Yearbook. In 2004, that was superseded by Arms & Armour, a twice-yearly peer-reviewed scholarly journal.{{cite web |url=https://historical-weapons.com/en-arms-armour-journal-royal-armouries-ru-arms-armour-zhurnal-korolevskoy-oruzheynoy-palatyi/ |title=Arms and Armour: Journal of the Royal Armouries |website=Weapons History Journal |date=18 January 2017 |access-date=19 August 2020}}{{cite web |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/yaaa20 |title=Arms & Armour |publisher=Taylor & Francis |access-date=19 August 2020}}

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• {{official website|http://www.royalarmouries.org/|name=Royal Armouries official website}}

{{Department for Culture, Media and Sport}}

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Category:Arsenals

Category:Charities based in England

Category:Collections of museums in the United Kingdom

Category:Exempt charities

Category:Army museums in London

Category:Museums in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Category:Museums sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Category:Non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government

Category:Tower of London

Category:Armour collections